My New Calendula Label

Here's my new label for my calendula soap. Just thought it needed something bright and cheery!! I'm also switching to a glass jat for the salve which will have the same label. My calendula isn't blooming yet, or I would have gotten a picture of it, instead of the lavender.

The Bean Teepee

Latest Pictures From The Garden

I went out last week and took some pictures of the garden. Things are coming along very slow this year because it has been so cool most of the month. I included a picture of the bean teepee that I made for my son. It'll be really cool once the beans make there way to the top. The arbor is one that I made from branches around our property and it has a hops vine climbing on it that I bought on the way back from farm fair last summer. My lavender is about ready to be cut. It think it just needs a few more hot days. I love the long stems on the plants that I have now.(anna louisa, lavender grosso) The green house was finished last year and made from mostly recycled materials.

It's strawberry time!!

I went for my first wander around the garden since my surgery a week ago. I was surprised by a few ripe strawberries. All the u-pick places are open now and I hope I feel better by this weekend. I'll just have to bring something to sit my hiney on while i'm picking. The herbs are already so lush. My oregano is beginning to take over and will need to be divided this year. I cut three big bunches. Last night I made a tuna-pasta salad with some of my fresh flat leaf parsley. oh, it was so good.

We've had a lot of rain this last week and the weeds have begun to take over again. I'm usually out there every day pulling a few, but haven't been able to to that. I guess it's one of the downfalls of organic gardening, but I wouldn't do it any other way. Even the flavors of the veggies and herbs are better when they're grown organically. I added some composted manure to a big pot of organic soil and started a small tomato plant in the green house. (I"ll post a picture later) I've never had any luck with them outside, so thought I would experiment and do it this way. Between the compost the the heat, that plant that was once 6" tall is now 3 feet tall or more in a matter of about 6 weeks and is full of blooms. I also put a green pepper plant in there and it's doing just beautifully. The foliage is a rich green and looks so healthy. So far, so good!!

I started to poop out a little so gathered up my little harvest. As I was walking up the driveway with my arms full of herbs, the breeze blew the scent of oregano, lavender and strawberries into my face and it was like heaven. What was even more heavenly was the tase of those fresh ripe strawberries. I wish I could share them with you!!

Spring on the Farm

It's been awhile since I shared any news from the farm. It's our third year here and the "third year it leaps" saying is so true. My flowers have gone absolutely crazy this year. Everything is so lushe and full. The iris just finished and I just enjoyed the last bouquet of peonies. I got 14 blooms from one bush and they were so gorgeous and smelled heavenly.

The animals are really active of course and the chickens are laying like crazy. I'm getting a dozen or more a day right now and actually having a hard time keeping up with them. I walked in to collect eggs one morning and found a perfect round nest with some feathers and two pretty brown eggs. It's those little moments that are as fullfilling as the big ones. The girls are outside right now working hard and I can hear them anouncing there eggs. One of them sounds like she's chuckling to herself. I wish there was a way that these moments could be wrapped up and put in a box and then opened on a dreary day.

No baby goats this spring, but I'll try again next fall. God is a pretty smart guy though. I've had health issues the last couple of months that have left me pretty dependent on others and then had surgery a week ago. All went well and I even took s stroll in the garden today. It's a gorgeous and sunny day.

My 8yr old had a play this morning. I love when he looks up and finally spots us in the crowd. He gets the biggest grin and has to do the little wave. At the end of their play the teacher had the parents take the place of their child and did the play a second time with the parents playing some of the roles. It was a hoot and Christien got so tickled over me playing his part.

My 19yr old text messaged me last night and forwarded a picture of his new eybrow piercing. Oh, my. I suppose if it makes him happy. He's a great kid and loves the lord. I'm so glad he opted not to do the lip! yikes!! I text him back with "OMG, I forgot you were doing that. Did it hurt?" He called me back and apparently he and his friends were quiet humored over his mom texting in abbreaviations. His words were, "Mom, your so cute. You make me laugh". I love to make my boys laugh. Kids love to see their parents show their silly side.

Patricia's Birthday Gift

This is a painting I did for Patricia from a photo that I took on our way to Farm Fair in Idaho last summer. Just as you come down the hill it looks out into the valley of rolling hills, farms and wheat fields. I wish I could have captured how magical it really is. The hills remind me of pictures in a story book and just looking at them creates a peaceful feeling inside.

Some Yummy Yarn From The "Yarn Garden"

I found this great hand painted cotton yarn that will soon be a scarf!

My Thrift Store Finds

Here are the things that I found at the thrift store in Portland!!

A Day Out With The Girls

We got to spend the afternoon with our sweet friend Patricia and celebrated her birthday with her. We started out our day visiting a great thrift shop in Portland that Patricia visits frequently. If I lived near this thrift shop I would be in big trouble. It's exactly what a thrift shop should be. The prices were great and they had tons of treasures. For 20.00 I got an incredible embroidered tunic in the perfect red head color, a bracelet made from vintage beads, a large cotton embroidered table cloth that just needs the finishing touches and a vintage type set that will be great for my vintage paper crafts.

After that we went to a chinese resteraunt that made everything home made and fresh. It was the best chinese I've ever eaten!! I had the beef and broccoli in a brown sauce and fried rice. The egg drop soup was wonderful and perfect for the cool rainy weather we had yesterday.

After lunch we decided to make our way to the button and ribbon store that we've heard so much about. We did however get sidetracked by the Yarn Garden store. This place is an entire city block!! There were so many choices of yarn I could hardly make a decision. Patricia had to come and find me and drag me out. (not really, she was very sweet about it)

We were on our way again turning and winding through all the one way streets of portland and through all the traffic to get to the one place we were most looking forward to seeing. We finally found it only to see that it was totally dark inside the store. No! It couldn't be!!! It was closed!! Yes , Patricia, we should have listened to you and gone there first! Oh, well. It's a perfect excuse to plan another "Girl's Day Out".

We were pretty pooped and a little cold and soggy from the rain, so we headed back to Patricia's for the pajama party. She opened her gifts and then we though we should get the movie going before it got too late. We put on our jammies and curled up on the couch together with our munchies and watched a movie in front of the fire. Before we left we had some home made angel food cake with fresh strawberries. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day and I'm so glad that we got to share Patricia's birthday with her!!

Green Tea Soap

Here's a picture of the new soap I made up last week. I made it using green tea and scented it with sweet orange e.o. It smells so yummy!!

My First Knitted Sock!

Here is the result of my first sock knitting class. I'm liking the yarn much better now that I've started knitting with it. I have a few more inches to go and then I'll start the heel. Next Thurs. we will learn how to complete it!! I'll post another picture or two as I get further along.

My First Scarf Patter- Irish Hiking Scarf

I deciced it was time to move on to something a little more challenging than just basic scarves and dish cloths. I came across a link for this irish hiking scarf and it's coming along great. The first 6 inches are a little "iffy" because I was trying to get used to following a pattern, but I think it's pretty darn good for a first try.

Sock Yarn Swap!!

I got involved in a sock yarn swap through Mary Jane's farm girl's forum and I recieved my package today!! Thank you Susan-I love it!!! Can't wait to use my new sock knitting skills to try out my beautiful new yarn!!

A Beautiful Drive Up The Columbia Gorge

A couple of weeks ago we went for a drive up the Columbia River Gorge. We decided to take the old historic highway so that we could see all the waterfalls. The top picture is at a viewing point and you can see how windy it was that day and very cold. The waterfall is called Briday Veil and we took a little hike to get to that one. It felt so good to get out in the crisp clean air. Afterward we stopped for hot chocolate. We are so fortunate to have so much beauty around us and I get so busy in my life that I sometimes forget to stop and just absorb it all in.

Happy 2007!!

I can't believe it's

already 2007!!! This last year totally flew by and obviously had a hard time disciplining myself to sit down and write.

Where do I start? My husband has been living in Montana since September. Hhe's attending heavy equipment school there and will be done in May. School is going well for my youngest and we made it through the soccer season without one rainy game. That was definately a miracle. I had a breast biopsy a few weeks ago that came back normal. Thank the Lord!! My oldest boy is getting ready to move out in a couple of months and I think we're both ready. He so needs his own space where he can live the way he chooses without Mom's rules. I keep waiting for parenting to get easier, but I think it just "gets different". HaHa.

The animals are doing great. The hens have slowed down with their laying, but it's to be expected with the shorter days. The chickens that we incubated are doing beautifully and I ended up with one Aracauna cross hen. I"m keeping my fingers crossed for green eggs, but we'll see. I bread Molly our Alpine, but it didn't seem to take. I think we waited a little too long to get her together with the buck. I'm just going to go ahead and wait until next year. I have a lot on my plate right now, so it's probably best anyway. The Nubian has gotten huge and she's almost become too much goat for me to handle. She probably weighs twice as much as I do or pretty darn close. I'm thinking of selling her and seeing if I can get an Alpine doe/kid pair.

The seed catalogs are already coming in and the green house will be ready for a good cleaning out in another month or so. We have had so much rain already this year and everything is such a mess. I'm hoping to get the gravel and plants in around there so things aren't so muddy and messy. I'm looking forward to trying some new herbs this year and will be helping my Mom plant a large garden of pumkins and flowers. Someday I'm hoping to have a place where I can have a nice sunny open area for a larger garden as well.

Christmas was very peaceful this year. I made a choice to keep things simple and gave mostly handmade things I had worked on throughout the fall. I gave out some canned goods and home made bath goodies of course. (I have an etsy store where I'm selling my soaps, etc.- http://lamargueritefarm.etsy.com ) I finally got my basic knitting skills down by making tons of scarves. So, of course, everyone got scarves for Christmas. The picture above is all the girls in there scarves at my SIL house. Todd was here for a brief visit so we had an early Christmas with his family.

My soap business went very well over the holidays and today I'm going to start on a few batches of soap that I need to get done. I need to do some brainstorming for some fun spring/gardeny items.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what 2007 brings and wish everyone much happiness and many blessings!!

Life's Been Busy

I hadn't realized how long it had been since my lat blog. Things have been kind of a whirlind since the nicer weather set in. We put in a raised garden this year. There are 8-4x4 raised beds wit vegetables and herbs. I've put up about 10qts of green beans and we have zuccini coming out of our ears. I've been playing around with all the different herbs especially the basil. I'ts doing just wonderful with all the heat we have had. I'll include a picture later.

We had a lot of clean up to do from our down pours and storms this winter and had to prepare for my oldest son's graduation. We had a wonderful party with about 30-40 people through out the day. We had a BBQ and played Bolo outside and then sat around the fire in the evening and roasted marshmallows and visited. It was such a surreal time for me. I knew my little boy was becoming a man, but now here he was getting ready to enter the real world with endless opportunity in front of him. I have strongly reccommended that he go to college, but I told him that whatever he does, do something that brings him joy. I told him not to live his life according to what others have planned for him. Whether it be ministry, music, or whatever he chooses, I'll be there as his biggest fan.

My husband got laid off earliler this year

A Glimpse of Spring!

I was outside waiting for my Mom to pick me up so we could go into town and meet a friend for lunch and I got to looking around at my flower beds and realized that some of my flowers are sending up little shoots and I have little violets blooming. It seems that when you feel you can't stand the dreariness of winter one more day you are given a glimpse of renewed life through nature. When I saw those pretty little violets today it was as if God was smiling at me and it eased my spirit and gave me the hope of Spring.

Here is a picture of our barn. As you can see things look pretty dreary from all the rain. The barn has moss all over the side from being so water logged!